Irving Penn At The Metropolitan Museum Of Art

Last week, I popped over to the Met to see the Irving Penn Centennial Exhibition.  The show is billed as the most comprehensive retrospective to date of Penn's work, following the announcement of the promised gift from the Irving Penn Foundation of more than 150 photographs by Penn to the Met.

Photography was my first love, especially fashion photography, so I was very excited to see this exhibition.  Including the 150 photographs previously mentioned, there are more than two hundred on display.  This is one of the most exciting exhibits I've seen in some time.

The photos are categorized into groups in the various galleries.  In addition to fashion, Penn traveled the world photographing people, sometimes setting up a makeshift studio to achieve the look he wanted.  He also did portrait and still life photography.

Here are a few photos from the exhibit.

Ballet Society, New York, 1948

One of my favorites from the show.  It's so artistically done.  Penn often posed people in a small corner of the studio and to great effect if I may say so.

Dior Dress (Dorian Leigh), New York, 1949

Here is what I really wanted to see, the fashion.  These photos are amazing.  If you are a lover of fashion, especially vintage fashion, this is the show to see.

Balenciaga Rose Dress, Paris, 1967

Christian Lacroix Duchesse Satin Dress, Paris, 1993

Black and White Fashion with Handbag (Jean Patchett),1950

Cocoa Colored Balenciaga Dress (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), Paris, 1950

The Twelve Most Photographed Models, New York, 1947

Because of his talents with both still life and portraiture, Penn was tasked with Vogue's group portraits.  It was at this shoot that he met Lisa Fonssagrives, who became his wife three years later.

Ungaro Bride Body Sculpture (Marisa Berenson), Paris, 1969

Some of Penn's many Vogue covers, back when Vogue actually knew how to do a cover.  These were high fashion models in designer clothes.  Today we have various reality tv show dingbats who are running around in yoga clothes in real life.  Extremely disappointing and not likely to go away any time soon.  And while I'm on my soap box, what is it with these so called celebrities and their naked dresses at the Met Ball?  I used to eagerly await the Ball every year, but I've given up on it.  There are a few people who are actually into fashion and the rest are celebrities with stylists, who in my humble opinion, should be fired immediately.  Yes, this subject gets my dander up!

Anyway, back to the exhibit, Penn also did portraits of many famous people and it was said that to be asked to sit for him was a great privilege that was not easily turned down.

Yves Saint Laurent

Pablo Picasso at La Californie, Cannes, 1957

There was a funny caption accompanying this photo.  Apparently when Penn arrived at Picasso's house, the artist pretended he was not at home.  After Penn's assistant climbed over the locked gate, Picasso granted Penn ten minutes!

Dora Maar, France 1948

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, New York, 1993

Mouth (for L'Oreal) New York, 1986

Penn did print work, including the famous Mouth photo.

Single Oriental Poppy, New York, 1968

In the 1960's Vogue asked Penn to photograph flowers.  He was not interested in them before, but they became a passion for him.  He wrote that his preference was for flowers considerably after they had passed the point of perfection.  The images were published in special Christmas issues from 1967 to 1973.

Peony 'Silver Dawn', New York, 2006

After the fashion, the flower portraits were my favorites of the exhibit.  I have one more photo that I have to post.  I was unable to get a good shot, but I'm going to show it anyway as the subject matter is so interesting.

Theatre Accident, New York, 1947

Obviously, a woman has spilled her bag, but take a look at the contents.  A cigarette, a pillbox and three different kinds of pills!  I love it.  A woman's bag probably has the same contents today, but in our sanitized culture, you would never see it.  And if you did, there would be a big to do about bad influences, inappropriate content and all that nonsense.

This is a great show.  If you love photography or fashion, I urge you to get to the Met to see the show before it closes on July 30th.  If you are not local, the show catalog is very well done and I believe contains everything in the exhibit.

Just for fun, here are the wiki pages for a few of the models.  They are not well known today, but they were really the first supermodels.

Lisa Fonssagrives

Jean Patchett

Dorian Leigh

Marisa Berenson

I'm Back!

Hello Everyone.  I hope all of you are enjoying these last weeks of summer.  I have to apologize for my unintended blog break.  Unfortunately, I had an accident a few weeks ago and I am just now getting back on my feet.  I hope to be blogging regularly from now on.

One good thing that happened this summer is that I returned to Assisi, Italy for the yearly painting workshop held there by Gregg Kreutz and Art Workshop International.  We had a great time and painted everyday, though in different spots than last year.

I left New York one day early so I could visit Rome.  I had a great time, but it was 95 degrees so I did not do as much walking around as I had hoped.

The newsstand on my corner carries this paper, but it was fun to see it on all the newsstands around Rome #travelgeek

I was having a great time wandering around these little alley ways, but when it was just too hot to stay out any longer, I found a pizza place that advertised air conditioning.  It was really just a couple of fans, but definitely better than nothing, so I went in there to relax and have some pizza.  We have good pizza here in New York, but there is nothing like having pizza in Italy, which I proceeded to do nearly every day of the trip!

The guys who worked in the restaurant were great and we had fun taking pictures.

Back out on the street, I wandered over to a park that was nice and shady.  I came upon this fantastic little place that someone needs to copy here in New York.

The Biblio Bar had books, wine, prosecco, cappuccino, sandwiches and pastries.  It was just the greatest little place.  Even the police came by for a snack!

I think every big city in the world has the same tour buses!

I took this shot of the Vatican on my way back to the hotel.  Luckily, I went there a few years ago because there was no way I could wander around there in the heat.

My painting buddies were waiting for me at the hotel and the next day we traveled on to Assisi to begin the painting workshop.  I actually like two of my plein aire paintings (very unusual for me) and I will tell you about them in my next post.

Glad to be back!!

NYC: Walking The High Line

Hello everyone.  I hope all of you are enjoying the warmer weather after our never ending winter.  Now that the temperature has reached bearable levels, I have been out and about in the city.  A few weeks ago I visited the High Line.

Have you guys been there?  It is an amazing public park built upon an old elevated freight rail line.  It starts at 14th street and ends up around 30th.  It is quite long, but there are benches and lounge chairs all over to stop and rest as well as a little food area with tables.

The views are amazing and the flowers and shrubs are beautiful.  I went in mid May and it was so nice to see all the greenery after our freezing, snowy winter.

The Empire State Building

Flowers planted within the old tracks

I was so happy to see all of this color after our never ending gray winter

I think this is my favorite shot of the day.  Such a peaceful setting.  

Judging from the number of tourists there, the High Line is popular with visitors and locals alike.  There are also special events and programs open the public.  You can check out the schedules here.  The park is now on the summer schedule, open from 7am to 11pm.  Do visit if you get the chance.  It is a lovely place right above the bustling city.

Day Trip: The North Fork

After reading about Habitually Chic's trip to the North Fork of Long Island, I was inspired to travel out there myself.  I had not been out there in many years.  Some of the area has really changed and is now catering to tourists, while other parts are just as I remember them.

We went all the way to Orient Point.  To get out there, you have to drive through many small towns and they are just lovely.  If you love Mid-Century Modern, get yourself out to Southold immediately.  There were three vintage stores on one block selling some great things.  I found a Syroco mirror (I am obsessed with them thanks to Pinterest) but it was too small.  I also did my usual hunting for some blue and white pieces but had no luck on that front.

Next we stopped in Greenport.  I had not been there for many years and the town has changed dramatically.  It now resembles the beach towns in every other waterfront community, and there were many more tourists there than I ever remember seeing.

The unfortunately named Deliverance.  Every one reading the sign had the same reaction "no thanks"!

Next we drove on to Orient Point.  I went there all the time as a child and had not been there in many years.  There was some beautiful scenery on the way.

See the egret?  There were egrets and ducks all over

Orient Point

Not sure what kind of bird left this footprint, but it must be pretty big.

The Connecticut ferry docking at Orient Point.  Welcome to New York.

Next stop, France!

The end

Then it was time for the long drive home.  Now, back to the sunflowers!